Ancient colours are distinct from 'modern' colours by being less saturated in tone and lighter in shade. The term 'modern' refers to the aniline dyes introduced c.1860 which produced darker greens and blues and richer reds and yellows. The term 'ancient' should not be confused with the age of the design. Muted colours. A range of tones only slightly different from 'Modern'. The shades are more subtle, for example, green looks more like olive green.

Reproduction colours were created to represent the colours found in a piece of tartan found at Culloden Battlefield. The cloth was around 200 years old and had been preserved by the peat. The colours are therefore made up of brown shades.

Antique colours were devised in recent times, (by Johnston's of Elgin) to represent the warmth and charm of fabrics aged by the sun.

You will normally find that most tartans are not available in all of the colourways anyway - in fact the Bissett is only available from stock in the ancient. It is really only the most popular tartans that would be readily available in all colourways. The Bisset tartan is appropriate for all spelling variations of the name.

I hope this is helpful but if there is anything further please let me know.